1. hardly 只是一般的否定副词，其意为 almost not, barely, scarcely。如：

He hardly looked at it 他几乎没看它。

He can hardly be right. 他不大可能是对的。

I was so tired that I could hardly walk. 我累得几乎走不动了。

He’s so stupid; I hardly think I’ll want to talk with him! 他那么笨，我简直不想跟他说话！

2. hardly ever 其实是表示一种否定的频度，相当于 rarely, seldom, almost never等。如：

It hardly ever snows here. 这儿几乎从不下雪。

I hardly ever see Brian these days. 这几天我难得见到布赖恩。

I’ve got so little time, I hardly ever read newspapers. 我时间很紧，不怎么看报。

My mother lives so far away that we hardly ever see her. 我母亲住得那么远，我们很少见到她。

3. 在 hardly…when [before]…（一…就…）这一句式中，原则不能用 hardly ever，因为这里的 hardly 并不表频率。如：

I had hardly closed my eyes when the telephone rang. 我刚合上眼，电话铃就响了。

We had hardly started when it began to rain. 我们刚出发就下起雨来。

We had hardly started when it began to rain. 我们刚出发，天就开始下雨了。

We had hardly entered into the matter when he came in. 我们刚开始讨论此事，他就来了。